K-3 II extreme motion blur

I've been having problems recently with heavy motion blur appearing in shots where there really shouldn't be any. See the example below (full size: motion blur | Pieter Wouters | Flickr), taken at a reasonable focal length and shutter speed, but everything's blurry and if you zoom in on the man you can clearly see motion blur as if the camera was shaking up and down violently. The problem has been hard to reproduce since it seems to happen randomly, and often taking the same shot immediately after gives a satisfactory result. It only started quite recently but since then has occured in quite a few shots.

I've looked around a bit and some people seem to be experiencing the same problem, but I haven't found any conclusive answers as to why this is happening, or any solutions. My guess is that the shake reduction setting causes the sensor to move around far more than it should. I tried taking some shots with SR off and the problem was gone (but as I said, it appears randomly so this might have been a coincidence).

The two most likely explanations are inadvertent activation of multiple exposure mode, or hand-held use of pixel shift.

If neither of these apply, it could be something else, including possibly a busted SR system (this is rare). What lens were you using?

Per the EXIF it also looks like you were shooting at F16, which will degrade your image quality and increase the likelihood of a shutter speed that can cause motion blur.

Hi Adam, thanks for your reply.

I was using the 16-85mm, never had problems with this combination before.

The problem has occurred in shots with varying focal lengths, exposure times and apertures. None of them should realistically have had any noticeable motion blur (no extreme tele shots, no long exposure times, etc.). In fact all of the shots affected by this could easily have been shot hand-held without shake reduction, without causing motion blur.

Inadvertent pixel-shift or multiple exposure seems highly unlikely. I've taken thousands of shots with this camera with no problems, and now suddenly a fairly high percentage of shots is ruined by this blur. Also, usually taking the same shot immediately after, with exactly the same settings, solved the problem.

Pentax Forums user @mikeSF had a similar problem several years ago, though I don't know how it was resolved. With any luck, maybe he will check in on this thread.

Of course, I must ask the most common question. Was the photo taken on tripod? If so, was the SR turned on? Second question...was the shot taken hand-held with live view? Sorry about that last, but one must rule out the obvious.

Pentax Forums user @mikeSF had a similar problem several years ago, though I don't know how it was resolved. With any luck, maybe he will check in on this thread.

Of course, I must ask the most common question. Was the photo taken on tripod? If so, was the SR turned on? Second question...was the shot taken hand-held with live view? Sorry about that last, but one must rule out the obvious.

Steve

Steve's tag sent me a notification to click here.
I am sure Steve may be remembering something I do not, for I cannot remember dealing with this exact situation with my K3II. But, my memory has been rapidly fading fast...wait, why did i come here again?
I wish I could help, but so sorry!
Mike

Pentax Forums user @mikeSF had a similar problem several years ago, though I don't know how it was resolved. With any luck, maybe he will check in on this thread.

Of course, I must ask the most common question. Was the photo taken on tripod? If so, was the SR turned on? Second question...was the shot taken hand-held with live view? Sorry about that last, but one must rule out the obvious.

Steve

All photos were taken hand-held and with SR on. I very rarely use live view and am pretty sure I didn't use it in this example.

Originally posted by CarlJF

If IBIS is activated, are you sure to wait for the green hand to appear before pressing the shutter button ?

Honestly can't say for sure, but I have a few dozen shots where this happened and several of them are of buildings etc where I would have had no reason to be too hasty. I tend to be quite slow anyway

I might add I had the K-3 before this and don't think I ever encountered this problem.

I had exactly the same problem on my K-1 with my 15mm manual Laowa lens. Everything fuzzy. I discovered later that the focal length was adjusted for 1600mm by error ! In this case, IBIS over-compensates the smallest vibration by huge sensor motions and it makes a fuzzy photo.
You did not indicate the lens you used. In your EXIF, it is mentioned 53mm. I guess you have a zoom lens. Is it a A/F/FA/DFA or a manual one ?

For an A lens or later, if the mount is dirty and the contacts do not transmit the correct focal length, it could explain your problem.
For a K or M lens, you must adjust the focal lens manually and you should check the input value.

A few years ago I posted an image I took at Yellowstone of a sandhill crane. I used my D FA 150-450 lens hand held and the shutter speed was 1/2000 second. The resulting image looked just like the shutter shock images I see from my K1. Very weird. No real consensus as to what caused it. I have never tried to duplicate it as my go to cameras are my K1 and K1-II. It does not show up when you review the image in the camera screen. Only showed up in post processing.

I had exactly the same problem on my K-1 with my 15mm manual Laowa lens. Everything fuzzy. I discovered later that the focal length was adjusted for 1600mm by error ! In this case, IBIS over-compensates the smallest vibration by huge sensor motions and it makes a fuzzy photo.
You did not indicate the lens you used. In your EXIF, it is mentioned 53mm. I guess you have a zoom lens. Is it a A/F/FA/DFA or a manual one ?

For an A lens or later, if the mount is dirty and the contacts do not transmit the correct focal length, it could explain your problem.
For a K or M lens, you must adjust the focal lens manually and you should check the input value.

Good luck

I was using the HD Pentax DA 16-85mm f3.5-5.6. It's quite possible some dirt got on the mount so this might explain it, but in the EXIF of the photos where the problem occurs I don't see any unusual focal lengths. They are all within the range of the lens and plausible for the shot. How did you find out the camera was adjusting for 1600mm, did it show up in the EXIF?

EDIT: I just tested with a 35mm manual lens, setting the focal length to 2000mm. The result is very similar to the problem I've been having, so I think you might be onto something.

maybe your was on a non quiet surface as a bridge, wood platform or high build in a windy day. I got same issues taking shots on a bridge, even in my house a 5th floor a heavy truck can do motion blur.

Steve, thanks for your better memory, lol. Oh, yes, now I remember a whole bunch of horizontally smeared images. That issue has never returned as far as I know and I concluded it must have been some interference that directed a slow pan of the floating sensor. Indeed, the OP here may be experiencing a related issue.